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Wednesday, December 4, 2013

December 4th Clemson Historic Picture Of The Day

On The Sideline With Frank Howard

(Photos Uploaded By Alan Cutts)

Today’s photo is of Frank Howard, probably watching one of his “boys” fumble the ball, being a bit animated on the sideline in the mid 1960’s.

Most know of Frank Howard as “The Legend” at Clemson. But few know the circumstances surrounding the end of his coaching days at Clemson.

Before the 1969 season started, Frank Howard announced that it would be his last as head coach. On December 3, 1969 Coach Howard called a press conference to announce that very fact. The next day, it was front-page news that a major change at Clemson was taking place.

Everyone was asking…who will be the new coach? Interestingly, Howard had already picked a successor and that was to be Bill Peterson of FSU. However, just a couple of days before he was to announce the new head coach, Peterson changed his mind and eventually went to Rice a year later.

Howard had to continue the search and ended up with Hootie Ingram. Hootie’s three years at Clemson resulted in a 12-21 record. Which leads many to wonder what would have happened at Clemson if Howard’s handpicked successor, Bill Peterson, would have followed Howard.